Fellowship Hostel Postcard

Henry Suenaga (reading newspaper) from Manzanar, and Ben Nishiyama from Poston, relaxing in a section of one of the men’s dormitories at Evergreen Hostel, Los Angeles. Both are looking for homes. Ben first went to Minneapolis from Poston, and Henry to Mississippi from Manzanar. They enjoy the comfortable dormitory and good meals at low cost at the Evergreen Hostel. Conditions in Los Angeles are good, and there are jobs though not as many as the east–but finding a home is a tough proposition, the young men say. That goes for anyone, any race. — Photographer: Mace, Charles E. — Los Angeles, California. 6/1/45

Ken Ehrlich and I walked around Evergreen Cemetery and 5 Puntos and found two nice lodgers who let us into the Fellowship House, still standing on Evergreen where Aunti Fu and Uncle John met after returning from internment after World War 2, down the street from where Manuel’s is now in East L.A., before they married. The place appears more rundown than it seems in the video, but you get the idea. People living in small single and double dorm rooms, with camp-like concrete showers under the stairs, and communal areas where they could meet and eat. A couple older guys are living in the place now, but it’s mostly empty, with a few scattered childrens’ toys and a faded basketball making it seem emptier. Mexican music coming from some odd corner of the building, down the darkened hall. The fountain in the central courtyard stained and dry, pigeons living in the eves. In the words of the caption from 1945 old photo: “Luncheon at the Evergreen Hostel, 506 N. Evergreen Street, Los Angeles. Three meals a day and dormitory accommodations are provided at only $1 per person per day for the first week, and $1.50 from then on. The meals are prepared in a clean kitchen by fellow guests, who all partake of the housekeeping duties in the operation of the hostel. The Evergreen Hostel cares for 80 to 90 guests at one time. It is three stories high, and has an attractive patio. It is located in the Boyle Heights district on the eastern side of the Los Angeles River. The surroundings are quiet and pleasant, and streetcars provide good transportation to downtown Los Angeles. — Photographer: Mace, Charles E. — Los Angeles, California. 6/1/45”

These rooming houses were from days before motel chains, when you could get a cheap room at the YMCA across the street from the Greyhound station in Santa Barbara if you were passing through town, or on the outs with your people. Who looks out to shelter poor people on the move these days? After World War 2 apparently the Quakers and other L.A. churches like Union Church (now the East West Theater) helped the Issei and Nisei return to town and find a place to live after they had been forcibly evacuated.

Mr. George Yanase, his wife Ann, their little girl Robbie Jeane (age 19 months), and Rev. S. Kowta, all from Poston, in the patio of Evergreen Hostel, Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. George Yanase left Poston a year and a half ago to move to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where he does garage work. Before the war, they lived at Anaheim, California. They plan to return to Pagosa Springs, and their three other children at Poston will join them. Meantime at Evergreen Hostel, Mr. and Mrs. Yanase and Robbie Jeane are comfortably housed and fed. Rev. Kowta is one of the two managers of the Evergreen Hostel. — Photographer: Mace, Charles E. — Los Angeles, California. 6/1/45

James Shimokawa, his wife Jennie and their little son Gary, age 3, shown living at the Evergreen Hostel, Los Angeles. They left Manzanar in 1943 to go to Idaho, then moved to Denver, and on June 1, stepped out of a taxi in front of the hostel, where they were welcomed by Rev. S. Kowta. The Evergreen Hostel is a quiet part of Los Angeles on the east side, and occupies the building used before the war as a Presbyterian Church School for Japanese children. Rev. S. Kowta, Presbyterian Minister, and Esther Rhoades manage the hostel, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church and the American Friends. Eighty to ninety people–men, women, and children–are accommodated at one time at the hostel. Room and meals are only $1 a day to start, and $1.50 after the first week. — Photographer: Mace, Charles E. — Los Angeles, California. 6/1/45